Should Snapple Sorbet Bars Disclose They Contain Absolutely No Fruit?

Fruit-flavored snacks are notorious for their lack of fruit content, but most items with “sorbet” in the name at least use some fruit juice or fruit base. And one might look at the box for Snapple Sorbet Bars and think that the phrase “naturally flavored” implies some fruit content. But a look at the ingredients panel says otherwise.

There are only three main ingredients listed on the box — water, sugar, maltodextrin — with the following listed under the heading of “contains less than 2%”: natural flavor, pectin, citric acid, sodium benzoate, and potassium sorbate.

so what if they are in compliance? that’s a narrow interpretation of “should.” Customers historically haven’t appreciated marketing that seems to be an attempt to pull something over on them. So I say this is a bad business move, therefore they should not do it. Why shouldn’t they? Because there is no fruit in their sorbet bars.

Yes, I used to be Snapple loyalist back in college before I actually read the label. I just assumed it was “good” for you since it was iced tea. Then I realized I might as well drink a Mountain Dew. Now I pretty much drink black coffee, water, and Honest Tea.

Of course any consumer who cares should check the ingredients, but that doesn’t mean it’s ok for the manufacturer to mislead. Pictures of fruit on the box, names of fruit and the word Sorbet itself is a food that is flavored with fruit. If there is no fruit in the product they are being very misleading.

Misleading is not illegal, misrepresenting by saying “contains real fruit” when it doesn’t is.

In this case, it’s a matter of consumers needing to be smarter than what they’re eating. If you honestly think something like this has fruit, and eat it on that premise without checking the ingredients, that’s your own fault.

Maybe I’m just jaded because that’s the world we live in, but honestly, it’s up to you to check the ingredients if you care about the ingredients. I don’t care about the Wikipedia definition of “sorbet”, or pictures of fruit on the box. The FIRST thing I do when I buy a new product is flip the box over and read the ingredient list.

Is it misleading? Sure, I guess, if you don’t know to do your research on the things you buy. Would I like them to disclose on the front “contains no real fruit!” – of course. Do I *expect* them to, and are they required to? Absolutely not, to both. What I want, and what they’re required to do, are two completely different things.

Trix is not only “fruit flavored”, but the pieces used to be fruit SHAPED when I was a kid. That doesn’t mean I thought they had fruit in them (and they don’t).

Aha! but that tagline is underneath the “Snapple” branding. Not the contents of the package. Clearly telling that the brand name “snapple” text and logo is “made from the best stuff on earth”. not the ingredients themselves.

The kicker there is words like “enzymolysis” which allows substances produced in a lab from petroleum to be called “natural flavor” because the molecule is the same. I know it really shouldn’t matter how it’s made if the end product molecule is the same but it does surprise people when they find out that “natural” banana flavor may not have originated with a banana tree. Some other countries don’t allow this and make you call that artificial flavor.

I would expect most people to believe “sorbet” contains fruit or fruit juice. The picture of fruit would not convince me it contains fruit. The names of fruits on the box would not convince me it contains fruit. The word “sorbet” would, though.

But I’m sure there is no legal definition of “sorbet”, so it’s Loophole City for Snapple. I guess they feel “natural flavor” = contains fruit, therefore it’s OK to call it sorbet.

i’m not always one to beat the ‘make it yourself at home’ drum, but with stuff like this and smoothies- its so easy (and cheap) to do, it just seems ridiculous not to. for what mcdonalds or jamba juice charges for a smoothie i can buy a container of strawberries, blueberries, bunch of bananas and a carton of yogurt. and making homemade sorbet/ice is not difficult either.

My crappy blender never gets the consistency right, though. I’m okay with paying extra for a frozen fruit smoothie or sorbet thing where it’s blended properly and the ice correctly pulverized. Plus, I hate the clean up that comes with attempting to make them at home.

As an easy cleanup, directly right after you use the blender, fill it with water and just blend the water at the max setting. It will clean up the whole entire base+blades and get rid of most of the debris. Then, all you need to do is use a wet paper towel to clean up anything that remains. Easy. :P

How about six rounds of litigation over it? Isn’t that what happens in a society that abandons basic decency?

Let’s have a big lawsuit and start filing 2000-page motions. Charge it to the taxpayers. Let Snapple vigorously defend their legal interests for oh, eight years or so. Sequester the jury too. That’s always a nice touch.

Wouldn’t it be great if the jury verdict allowed Snapple to print bald-faced LIES on their packaging and back it up with legal precedent? It could say “SO ORDERED BY THE HONORABLE COURT this product contains CASH, JEWELS and 68 DIFFERENT SPECIES OF MANGO. If you disagree, send your address so we can have you served with contempt papers.”

When you by cherry soda with a picture of a cherry on the front, should you reasonably expect it has real cherry juice in it? No. Do you still expect it to taste like cherry? Yes. If I buy half and half, is Arnold Palmer supposed to come with it since he’s pictured on the front? What about fruit flavored gum? Many times gum packets have fruit splashed all over when there’s not even a hint of fruit to be found.

Where does it say on the box that it contains fruit? Nowhere except the fact that it contains 2% natural flavor which in some cases comes from fruit via extracts. Someone inserted a definition in the earlier posts.

I think we can all agree that “Fruit Punch” is a common flavor that typically does not contain real fruit. I voted No and apparently fell in the minority. However, if you are a responsible parent, you are looking at labels anyway right?

I can all but guarantee the main ingredient in a lot of similar products marketed to kids is water and sugar. Why is this one any different? Its not sold as a fruit bar, but a sorbet bar. Hell, sometimes “Fruit Punch” is simply sugar and water. Where’s that outrage?

Unlike “Arnold Palmer” or “Girl Scout Cookies” (which aren’t even made with real Girl Scouts!), “Sorbet” is defined in the dictionary as a frozen dessert that is made with fruit and fruit juice.

So yes, if Snapple says “Here’s our sorbet!” I would expect fruit to be the main ingredient.

As for Fruit Punch you’ll notice that the packaging always says FRUIT PUNCH and then in small letters “juice drink” or “juice cocktail drink”. “Juice drink” tells you it’s not pure juice. Confusing? Yes. Especially since a lot of other drinks will say “Contains pure juice!” but then you look on the ingredients list and find out they’re made from concentrate.

Which dictionary…Wikipedia? Yeah I looked that up and read the same thing. Some dictionaries also list Sorbet contents as: egg whites and milk. So all the “legit” sorbets have to have egg whites too? The definition changes depending on the source so I don’t believe for a second there is an official sorbet definition. Little hard to define prepared foods anyway as nearly every brand of prepared food is made different from the next.

They shouldn’t change the ingredients, nor should they add words explaining there is no fruit, instead they should cease and desist their flagrantly fraudulent false advertising by removing any mention of fruit from the box: no fruit-themed “flavors”, no pictures of fruit on the box. The false advertising is the problem, and no amount of warnings can make up for it.

I think it’s misleading the way snack-girl’s ‘About’ section goes out of the way to say that she is a PhD. But doesn’t explain in what field. It also doesn’t mention exactly what has been published by her or by whom.

I am very mislead to believe her credentials. I have also been mislead to believing she is a medical professional.

Who cares what they call it. If I can’t picture it growing or running away from me I don’t eat it. Anyone who looks at this box and thinks they are getting something healthy is in need of so much help that a change of label isn’t going to save them.

I subscribe to the Vermont Maple Syrup association’s advertising philosophy. Companies shouldn’t be allowed to put an ingredient in a product’s name or in their advertising unless it’s the primary ingredient in the product.

In the UK the law is if it doesn’t have apple, strawberry, cherry etc in it then it isn’t allowed to have a picture of an apple, strawberry, cherry etc on the box. Simple. (There is actually a specific percentage, so they can’t put 0.0002% strawberry in and slap a picture on the box either)

These are those crappy tubes that you stick in the freezer. They are essentially frozen Kool-Aid. I would never expect those kinds of things to contain any fruit. I also don’t expect sorbet to have certain ingredients in it unless it says real fruit sorbet. I would still read the label as I do with most things I buy. I do take offense with them saying that it’s made with the best stuff on Earth. I highly doubt that sugar, water, pectin, etc.. can be considered the best stuff on Earth. That saying does imply high quality ingredients are used.